Captain Orinia stood at Parade Rest in front of the Tribunal. Two of the General Tribiatus sitting across from her were unfamiliar. The Tribia Consul however, the officer who would be asking questions, was very familiar: General Laiel Sparatus was the Command Officer who had assigned General Arterius to the Patrol Fleet, and was said to be an old friend of the Arterius Clan.

This did not bode well.

"This Tribunal will come to order." The Sergeant-at-Arms rapped his ceremonial spear on the floor calling everyone to attention. "General Sparatus will be presiding as Tribia Consul, with Generals Quintius and Fedorian as Sub Consuls. Pay all due heed, for the Spirits witness our deeds." He rapped his spear on the floor again and the Tribunal sat while she returned to Parade Rest.

General Sparatus leaned forward and steepled his talons in front of his face. "Captain Orinia, as the ship's logs and duty reports bear out your actions regarding Citizen Arterius, we will not dwell on that matter." Orinia was genuinely surprised at that statement, though the cold look in the Consul's eyes all but promised retribution. "Instead we will hear your impression of these Hoomans: their tactics, capabilities, and your best assessment on how to combat them. You may stand at ease."

Orinia relaxed her shoulders and looked the General in the eyes. "The first thing that comes to mind, sirs, is their apparent lack of Eezo integrated into their systems."

Sparatus quirked an eye-ridge. "Your sensor logs clearly show these ships possess mass-effecting field generators."

"Yessir, but none of their vessels give off any of the energetic signatures of an active Eezo Core; just heightened levels of neutrinos consistent with Deuterium-Tritium Fusion reactors. There was also significant neutron radiation emitted by all of their drive plants, indicative of direct Fusion Plasma drives. Given the size of their ships, I believe this indicates either a fundamental lack of Eezo within their territory, or an absence of Prothean artifacts to inform their technological development."

"Oh, is that your learned opinion?" Sparatus sneered behind his talons.

"As a double major in Military Sciences and Cultural Anthropology from the State University of Manae, yessir it is." General Fedorian's mandibles quirked ever so slightly at the scowl Sparatus tried to hide behind his talons.

"Then let us focus on your other Major; what does this tell us about their capabilities?"

Orinia dipped her chin as she recalled all the details she could. "Between the limits of direct Fusion drives when not augmented by a Mass-Core, as well as the observed exhaust product, their smaller ships are likely to be limited to no more than Two Gees of acceleration, but could attain a max Delta-Vee of point One Cee. That mass will limit their maneuverability compared to ours. They are reliant on their exhaust for heat regulation, which I believe is one of the limiting factors in their observed rate of fire. They appear to compensate for this through the use of high-speed, highly maneuverable missiles with Kiloton yield shaped charges.

"Their ships lack any form of Kinetic barrier, instead relying on thick sloped armor to absorb and deflect incoming fire, as well as a defense-in-depth strategy utilizing fighter screens and kinetic cannon based point defense.

"In my estimation, the best current tactic is to remain at range with Super-capital ships supported by reinforced frigate and fighter anti-missile forces, while Cruisers perform flanking hit-and-run attacks from no closer than one thousand kilometers. If they launch a fighter/bomber strike, I would advise direct engagement at close range by Frigates, as our own fighters are grossly outmatched.

"In the long term, we need to revise our current combat doctrines which have remained unchanged since before the Krogan Rebellions. The Hooman use of high speed missiles with fast agile fighters could be explored using our own fighters and Frigates in Lightning Strike attacks, though doing so would require a fundamental change in our training regimes."

Orina resumed Parade Rest, indicating she was done speaking.

The Tribiatus all glanced between one another before standing as one. Orinia snapped to attention.

Fedorian spoke first. "Captain Orinia, it is the estimation of this Tribune that the species known as Hooman represents an immediate, dire and existential threat to the security of the Turian Hierarchy, and to the Citadel as a whole."

Next was Quintius. "Since you are the only command officer with any experience combating these people, we are brevet promoting you to the rank of General Secundus. You will command the force sent to quell this threat."

Finally was Sparatus. "Said force will consist of the Twentieth through Thirtieth Fleets, and all attendant supporting forces." Orinia tried not to choke at the thought of the force she was being given to combat the Hoomans. "Since this foe has brought 11 dreadnaughts, we shall match them and demonstrate how truly outmatched they are. Pay ye heed, General Orinia, for the Spirits will judge your deeds."

Newly promoted General Orinia snapped a salute and marched out to begin gathering the forces she would be leading.

X

The current, and now last Director of the UEG's Colonial Military Administration, Kogo Harambe stormed out of the briefing room. Speaker Kerensky had spent the last half-hour trying to convince him that it was the General Assembly, and not him personally, who had passed the resolution to reinstate the position of Secretary General and dissolved the CMA.

It was a lie of course; Ivan had manipulated the General Assembly into voting that way. He needed to have the UEG's military under a single unified command, what with the persistent Insurrectionists and the Covenant. Now he had these Turians and elements of the disbanded ONI, which had disappeared through one of the Relays in the Arcturus system. It was more important than ever to keep bureaucratic inertia and jurisdictional pissing matches from preventing swift response.

As soon as Harambe had left, he pushed a call button. Five minutes later, Colonial Administration Authority Director Aisha Hameed, UNSC Supreme Commander Lord Admiral Terrence Hood, and the director of the newly formed Intelligence and Security Administration Donnel Udina walked in.

Ivan stood and nodded to his guests. "Thank you for coming."

The three sat in the comfortable high-backed chairs facing his desk. "Cut the crap, Ivan." Aisha locked eyes with the Secretary General, palms resting on the armrests and feet planted on the floor. "You got your damn Putsch of my Agency. What else could you possibly need?"

Ivan silently considered the woman across from him. Her nickname of the Pakistani Tigress was well deserved: elegant, cunning, and extremely dangerous if you got in her way. He needed her contacts and influence in the Outer Colonies, so he would need to play this very carefully to get what he wanted, what he needed without losing his political shirt in the process.

He slid a tablet across the desk for her. When she looked down at it, she saw it was a Non-Disclosure Agreement. She was more than experienced enough to know that when you received one of these, you needed whatever information it pertained to if you wanted to maintain your negotiating edge.

She also considered the three men in the room with her. Terrence Hood was very much like the ships he commanded: blunt and straightforward. She could trust whatever came out of his mouth to be the truth as he knew it. Donnel Udina was a master manipulator and opportunist. He had survived the purge of the old ONI and came out smelling like roses. It would take work parsing the truths from the lies when he spoke, but there was always some truth in whatever he said.

Then there was Ivan Kerensky. The two of them had been political rivals for most of her professional career. She knew him to be a consummate and ruthless politician who always acted as he felt best for the UEG, no matter who got hurt in the process. The presence of all three of these men meant whatever was happening was a threat to the entirety of the UEG, and they needed her connections to make whatever plan they had work. If they were this desperate, then this might be her chance to force real reforms in the UN's Colonial policies. She just needed to make sure she came out ahead in these negotiations. She pressed her thumb to the signature block until the document blinked off. She handed the tablet back to Ivan and locked eyes with him once more.

He took the tablet back with a faint smile and a nod. "I needed to dismantle the CMA, because in the coming wars I'll need a clear and direct chain of command of all UEG military assets with no jurisdictional issues."

Aisha flexed her hands for a moment before leaning deeper into her chair and schooling her features. "You say 'wars', as in plural. What has happened?" She gave Terrence and Donnel a side eyed glance. She could all but feel them tensing up to gang up on her. She just needed to ride out the storm until they got to the point.

Udina huffed a bitter laugh. "We've started tripping over hostile alien races is what's happened."

Terrance frowned at the ISA Director as he tapped his own tablet and a pair of holograms sprung up. "You're passing aware of what's going on on Harvest, but not the truth of it. We've lost Harvest." He paused to give her time to react, but she remained still and focused.

Donel spoke up again when she nodded. "Oh, we're fighting to take it back, but this Covenant that attacked? It has taken a 'Scorched Earth' policy of bombarding the planet with some kind of gravitationally lensed fusion lance weapon. Half the planet's surface is still molten. Meanwhile, the colony world we sent the Harvest refugees to is right on the back door of another group that ONI poked with a stick."

Hood continued. "In addition, Admiral Cole has been chasing Covies around the Outer Colonies, with confirmed engagements at Alpha Auriga and Xi Bootis. Between that, the 87th Cruiser Group tied up defending Shanxi from a possible reprisal attack, and a spike in Insurrectionist activity, we just don't have the manpower to defend the outer colonies against the Covenant threat."

Ivan picked up from there, changing the hologram to a strange metal fork in space. "Our naval assets are however quite effective against this new enemy, and the Covenant has no way to enter any of the systems accessible to them. I propose to withdraw from the current series of outer colonies and relocate them into the worlds accessible through the Arcturus hub network. Our naval assets will be much better able to defend the colonies, and Admiral Cole can focus his efforts on combating the Covenant rather than rushing to the aid of border settlements."

Aisha frowned. "I understand the logic behind this move, but this will be a tremendously hard sell. You are asking people to uproot themselves from their homelands."

Ivan gave a politician's smile. "I'm sure you can come up with something to-"

She cut him off mid sentence, "If you want me to sell resettlement to the outer Colonies, then there needs to be a path for the Colonies, all of them, to have a seat in the General Assembly," she stated as she crossed her hands in her lap.

Ivan arched an eyebrow at the suddenness of her declaration. "Well I'm sure I can find you a place-"

"Not me, Ivan; the Colonies." She emphasized as she stared impassively at him. "And not just a seat for the Colonies. There needs to be a clear path for formal recognition of a Colony as a full member state of the United Nations, with all rights, privileges and responsibilities attendant thereunto.

"All three of you know full well Earth's Hegemony is what caused the Insurrections in the first place. You want them to end? You want the Colonies to willfully relocate? This is how."

Ivan scowled and leaned as far forward as his desk would allow. "That's going to be a very hard sell in the General Assembly. There's a great deal of political and economic will tied up in the existing bureaucracy."

They were both aware of the morally distasteful nature of the current resistance to Colonial reform. But where Ivan was willing to trample the Colonies rights to self determination, Aisha would not let him take the easy path.

"Then those old Oligarchs can learn to play nice. If you want me to sell resettlement to the outer Colonies, then there needs to be a path for the Colonies, all of them, to have a seat in the General Assembly," she reiterated as she flashed him a wicked smile and leaned back. "I'm sure you can come up with something."

Ivan met her eyes, then nodded with a sigh. "I'll find the votes to get a bill passed, once you have a formal proposal on my desk."

Aisha stood and put her hand out to the Secretary General. "I already have a draft on file. I'll have a runner bring it to you before lunch." As soon as they shook, she spun on her heel and all but strutted out of the office.

Terrence whistled once the door closed behind her. "She's going to have one hell of a voting bloc once you make this happen. When she runs for your job, she has my vote."

Ivan snorted. "She's welcome to it. I've aged a decade in the last year alone." He looked at Terrence. "Where are we with the salvage?"

The Admiral tapped his tablet to bring up a manifest. "Heavy lift isn't really a problem. There aren't any surviving pieces bigger than a Corvette, so the Punic Super-Carriers can transport it all back to Reach. Our issues are in understanding how it all works, and housing and feeding the survivors; their biology is vastly different than ours."

"We may have an in." Donnel tapped his own tablet and brought up a hologram of a strange rotating station. "These aliens are a part of a larger coalition that they are answerable to. If we can sue for an armistice, we may be able to secure all the aid we need from the other races. It will depend on their internal politics."

Admiral Hood shook his head. "All these new aliens, and the Colonies bucking for Nation status; I don't envy your workload the next few months."

Ivan frowned and then slumped. "We still need to formally recognize aliens as having person-hood before we can even consider a treaty."

Udina chuckled as he stood up. "Just put a bug in the ear of the Coalition for Sapient Rights. They probably have something drawn up already, and they could represent a ready made voting block you can leverage when Aisha comes to collect. You'll just have to deal with the blowout of granting Person-hood to all present and future Smart-AI. No pressure."

X

Doctor Brynn Cole breathed a sigh of relief as the ONI Transport began accelerating away from Shanxi. She had spent the last few weeks organizing the 'repatriation' of the substantial number of orphans created by the Turian invasion: 250 in total. It was in the second week that word had made it through the intel channels that Margaret Paragonsky had been charged by the UN Security Council with Fomenting Sedition. While the trial was being put together, the Office of Naval Intelligence was being dismantled. Given the current political environment, had her or the ship's true affiliations with Jack Harper been identified, she was quite certain she would be in shackles in the bowels of the Matterhorn.

Then, two days ago she'd received an update of her credentials classifying her as a 'technical consultant' for the ISA, along with an encrypted message from Doctor Lawson. She was to move ahead with the transfer of the children to his facility in Zeta Reticuli. When the formerly ONI Star-Charter Transport CASS Torrens came in system with the rest of the relief fleet, she had to resist whooping in victory.

Now, she and the crew of 15 just had to wrangle 250 unruly, distraught children into their cryo-chambers for the three month trip.

"NO!" -BAM-

This was more difficult for some than others. Jak, as the young girl insisted on being called, was particularly obstinate.

Brynn calmly walked over to the child, ignoring the ONI operator being picked up off the ground. She knelt in front of the child and gave a soft smile. "Jak, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to go!" The child faintly glowed, with the occasional spark of static electricity. "The Turians took everything from me! My mommy and daddy, they even took Castis away!" She sniffled and scrubbed tears from her eyes. "I wanna stay and make them PAY!"

As she screamed the last, she floated off the ground for a moment before a trickle of blood came from her nose.

Brynn caught her before she fell to the ground. This wasn't the first strange occurrence from Jak. Indeed, there were at least sixteen other children who exhibited similar abilities; abilities the Doctor had only ever observed amongst the occupying Turians, and even then only from the Cabal specialists. Not even the terrible and mysterious Covenant forces had shown similar abilities.

This represented a unique opportunity that could not be wasted.

She cradled Jak and raised her head so she was looking into Brynn's eyes. "Do you really want to hurt them? To fight them and make them pay?" Jak nodded weakly. "Well then I'll tell you a secret," she leaned in and whispered, "so do I. And we are going to a place where you will be taught how to fight them and make them pay."

She leaned back and smiled softly at Jak. "But it's a very long trip, so you need to sleep on the way there. Can you do that for me? For your mommy, your daddy and Castis?"

Jak managed to wriggle out of Doctor Cole's arms and stumbled over to the Cryo-Pod. "You'll make me strong so I can have my vengeance?"

Brynn nodded. "I promise when we're done, you will be an unstoppable instrument of wrath."

Jak nodded, wiped the blood from her nose and climbed into the pod. Brynn stood next to the glass and smiled at her until the technicians placed the girl in stasis.

The moment the rime of frost formed on Jak's cheeks, the smile evaporated. She rounded on the Operator who was still dazed from being launched into a wall. "Was I or was I not explicit in my instructions not to agitate the children? We need their compliance for the program, both for deniability and compatibility."

"With respect ma'am, but that one was wound tight to begin with. That's why we waited to put her in last." The former ODST slurred slightly, likely concussed from the impact.

Brynn huffed. "That little bit of forethought is the only thing keeping me from finishing what she," she nodded to the pod, "started. Make sure I'm here before you wake her up."

She pivoted and made her way up to the command deck to compile a quick message for Doctor Lawson. She chuckled at the shift in the SPARTAN program away from Doctor Halsey. The woman had been a visionary, but she was ultimately too emotional and weak-willed to lead.

Really, getting so attached to one of the brats YOU kidnapped to perform illegal experiments on? What did you expect of the program?

She huffed as she stepped into the lift to the bridge. "If you're getting broody, woman, then just get knocked up." She stepped off as the doors opened and headed straight to the Slip-Packet terminal.

-To: Doctor H. Lawson-

-From: Doctor B. Cole-

-Subject: Complications and Opportunities-

-Doctor Lawson,

-There is a new development with the current batch of subjects: several have exhibited abilities only previously observed in Turian Specialist units. I am attaching a list of subjects and associated medical samples which have currently expressed these abilities. At present, I don't know which environmental factor led to this expression, but it is my opinion that this group should undergo more rigorous testing before program intake. If the environmental factor can be identified, we may be able to reproduce the effects in a more controlled and substantive manner. I look forward to exploring this exciting development as we move forward with the program.

Doctor Brynn Cole-

X

Tevos looked up from the third of seven datapads.

She could have had all of the reports sent to her Omnitool, but sometimes it was important to have tangible, tactile objects to drive a point home; especially if you had to drive it through the armored scales of a Turian's head.

The Salarian Councilor Merilon sat quietly next to the humidifier.

The aged Dalatrass was quiet after bringing the current series of incidents into perspective for the venerable Matriarch. Tevos could see it was more than the years weighing on her colleague. Merilon felt responsible for having unintentionally sat on the events of the last several months. Considering a recent incident with a Drell colony near the Skyllian Verge, Tevos was tempted to agree. But that would accomplish nothing of substance. Tevos needed Merilon focused on the now in order to take their Turian counterpart to task.

Councilor Othean, the source of her current dilemma, walked into the meeting room. He had a harried look about him, but centuries of politics let her read his body language like a Maiden's diary. He was tired, but also excited.

We'll see how long that lasts, she thought darkly as she primly nodded to her Turian colleague.

"Councilor Othean, thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Yes, well when the Council Calls and all that. What did you need from me? I am very busy coordinating with Palaven on an internal matter."

Tevos might have excused the insolence; the young were often casually disrespectful when busy. But the lie she could not let pass.

"An internal matter you say? Would that be the internal matter that has resulted in the activation and redeployment of a full third of your forces?"

Othean buzzed in annoyance. "Yes, that one. Could we please get on with whatever is happening so I can get back to work."

"That is absolutely my intent: to get you back to work." For all Othean's feigned bluster, she could see he had heard the warning in her tone. "Conveniently, your internal matter is our business today."

She brandished the first tablet. "Let us begin with the fact that your mass deployment has upset every Council and Associate government under our purview. I won't dignify the Batarian complaints, but both the Courts of Dekuuna and the Enlightened Primacy have elevated their military alert status in response to what they describe as, 'Turain provocation'."

The Turian clicked his mandibles in annoyance. "Well perhaps the Hierarchy wouldn't need to maintain such a high readiness status if other races were more proactive in defending their borders."

"Internal security and freedom of movement between systems is your responsibility," Merilon spoke from her seat by the humidifier. "The Hierarchy receives substantial subsidies and latitude to perform that very task. If your government is no longer willing to perform that function, then perhaps we should revisit the Accords, since you clearly don't need such a vast fleet if you are not using it for the common defense."

Tevos silently praised Merilon's timely comment, as it put the first genuine crack in Othean's facade; his entire fringe flexed in alarm. She hammered on that crack before he had a chance to organize a defense.

"Budgetary concerns are on the list of things as well." She brandished the next tablet. "Those heightened security states you were so happy with? They have resulted in a one half percent drop in intersystem trade. That by the way is the annual figure, as in one half percent of all trade for one year has stopped in the last three months. If that trend continues, we are looking at a two percent loss by year's end. I'm certain the Volus," she brandished a third tablet, "have already contacted your office about this; whether you've given them your time during your very important internal issue is another matter."

She brushed aside most of the tablets to pick up the one on the bottom of the stack: the most damning of the lot. "However the greatest impact has been on your duty. This," she calm passed the tablet to Othean, "is a report I received earlier today regarding an attack on a Drell colony on the edge of the Skyllian Verge: sponsored by the Hanar Enlightened Primacy last year, approved by this body at that time," she gestured to herself and the other two Councilors, "and as of this morning, gone."

Othean looked up from the report. "What do you mean, 'gone'?"

"She means attacked by pirates. Of the three thousand registered colonists, only 47 are accounted for; of those 47, 21 are dead." Menilon stepped away from the humidifier and took her seat at the table. "All at the hands of Pirates that were meant to be kept at bay by elements of your 25th Fleet, which was pulled out one month ago."

Tevos biotically pulled the report from his talons. "Now the Enlightened Primacy, already in a heightened readiness status, is preparing to go on a bloody Crusade through the Skyllian Verge, the Terminus and the Attican Traverse. The Batarian Hegemony had activated all of their border defense forces, in the full expectation the Primacy would use the attack as an excuse to invade."

Tevos sat upright and stared down at her counterpart. "Maintaining the peace is the sworn duty of the Turian Hierarchy. It is your function within this deliberative body, and in the last three months you have not only failed to keep the peace, your actions have actively destabilized the whole of Citadel space. So you see, Councilor, your 'internal matter' has become very much an external matter."

She picked up one of the discarded tablets bearing the STG logo. "What is so important about this new species on the far-side of Relay 314 that you would risk chaos here?" She passed the report to him to read.

Othean's mandibles fluttered in indecision for a moment before he hung his head and sighed. "Six months ago, the STG informed us about a new species called Hooman that had activated the 314 Prime Relay on their end. The General in charge of patrolling that region at the time was Desolas Arterius. He mobilised a full Dreadnaught task force and traveled through the relay to subdue them since, according to his authorization request, they had been operating in our space long enough to be aware of the laws they had broken."

Tevos could see that Othean was unconvinced by the justification, but Turians tended towards flock behavior: when the individual at the front went a particular way, the rest followed suit for better or worse.

She let him continue.

"Three months ago, after a fairly uneventful pacification, every ship except Arterius' Flag was destroyed by a fleet consisting of at least 10 Dreadnaughts and nearly 30 support ships. His opponent lost no ships in the engagement. The Hierarchy has deemed the Occupation forces 'Missing in Action, presumed Dead'. A General Tribiatus chaired by General Sparatus, who is a close friend of the Arterius clan, declared the Hoomans to be an immediate, dire and existential threat to the security of the Turian Hierarchy, and to the Citadel as a whole. The mobilization of a third of our fleet is because at this time, that is what we expect to need to combat this species."

Tevos remained still. She had been aware of some of the details, but had thought the return of the Turian Dreadnought had been to secure reinforcements. The idea that the Hierarchy Navy had suffered such a complete defeat was not only a tragic loss; it would be a blow to the credibility of the Hierarchy as a policing force.

Her eyes flicked to Merilon and saw the same thought flit through her mind. Word of this cannot get out.

She nodded and gently retrieved the tablet. "Before you commit your forces to a conflict you seem to feel will cost you so dearly, we will attempt diplomacy. I will organize a diplomatic mission to be sent aboard the Destiny Ascension to parly a ceasefire. If all goes well, we shall say your mobilization was to render an 'Honor Guard' for this new species. If not, then you are poised to respond with overwhelming force.

"There will be a cost though." Othean looked up at Tevos. "Come peace or war, you will step down as Councilor. This body cannot function when members lie and deceive one another as you have."

The Turian clicked his mandibles and nodded as he stood. "I understand. I should inform you that General Sparatus is the most likely pick for my replacement. He will not be well disposed to these Hoomans, as their defeat of Citizen Arterius is a blemish on his personal honor."

Tevos felt a flutter in her tentacles at the lack of honorifics in Aterius' name.

Turians valued merit, and one was usually referred to throughout their life by the highest position they had held. For Desolas to have been stripped of all titles would be a devastating blow to his family and associates.

"Thank you for your warning. I must prepare the diplomatic mission. You should inform your government of our decision. Impress upon them," Tevos locked eyes on him, "that this is the will of the Council. I will be sending a SPECTER along both to protect the Diplomats, and if necessary, to take command of your fleet should they choose to question, strain, or transgress our orders."